I take enough medication to keep our local pharmacy in business.
The medical issues, lead to stress, which lead to confusion, anxiety, panic attacks, and fear.
The anxiety, panic attacks, and fear, lead to more stress, which worsens the medical
issues. Round and Round and Round it goes, where it stops...nobody knows!
I'm grateful for the physicians who take care of me, and the medication that helps me to function.
BUT - LOL, there always seems to be a BUT - I need something more.
I spent the last 6 weeks researching service dogs. I heard about PSD's (Psychiatric Servcie Dogs), while I was out in Utah for the Casual Blogger Conference *Woot Woot* in late May. I'm a dog lover, so the idea of a service dog really struck home. Problem is, they are hard to come by. Waiting lists can be years long,
and the financial cost to obtain the dog, can be $5,000 or more. Stubborn as I am, I've been plugging away
trying to find as much information as possible. I even got backing from my doctor (who feels that my physical issues alone qualify me) - I'm now officially a person with a permanent physical disability - so I can legally own a service dog.
The hardest part of this whole process, is that lack of understanding about my needs. I'm not in a wheelchair, I'm not blind or deaf. I have unseen disabilities - but that doesn't make them unreal! I think that most of my kids and friends think I'm nuts. I look perfectly healthy, except for when my hands and feet turn bright red, and then blue,when my Reynauds flares up. I'm not on oxygen, but my bundle branch block is still there. Some days, I can hardly move, when the firomyalgia cycle is bad. Wrap those up with my sleep disorders, my out of whack thyroid, my degenerating discs, my osteoporosis, and my balance issues, and I'm an accident just a wait'n to happen!
How do I get my family and friends on board? How do I help them to understand the pain, confusion, anxiety, and the fear? How do I find financial sponsors? How do I find a trained dog that I don't have to wait years for, or a dog and a local trainer? How do I turn the Unseen into the Seen? I'm open to suggestions!
Any have an ideas for me?
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Libby is a full time Domestic CEO. She has been happily married for 36 years; is the mother of 10 grown children; grandmothers 14 growing children; is owned by 2 dogs. Ramblings of her thoughts can be found at: Neas Nuttiness...Put our family together and we're just a few nuts short of a party mix! Her dogs occasionally post their thoughts at: A Tail Of 2 Doggies
